Starcraft's "Destiny" Talks eSports and Gaming for a Living

Paul Tassi
, ContributorNews and opinion about video games, technology and the internetOpinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Steven "ROOTDestiny" Bonnell II (photo: EdwardStarcraft)

eSports - It's a foreign term to some, but a lifestyle for others. In 2011, many competitive video games can be played at a professional level, and over the years, certain franchises have grown to the point where they've created an entire subculture supporting them.

There are pro leagues for games like Halo, Call of Duty and Counterstrike, and have been for years, but one title has spawned a world class sport unlike any other, Starcraft.

It's an RTS (a real time strategy game, in which players build armies and pit them against each other) developed by Blizzard, the same company behind the massively addicting Warcraft and Diablo series, and since the release of the original in 1998, the game has become a worldwide phenomenon. The rise of Starcraft as a legitimate sport started in South Korea, where the best players are often treated with the kind of celebrity status an actual professional athlete might face.

Though pro Starcraft has had its place elsewhere in the world, including the US, only recently with the release of the second installment in the series, Starcraft 2, has it started to take hold in a similar way that it did in Korea and interest appears to be growing exponentially.

The best players in the game develop huge and loyal fanbases, and crowds (both live and on the internet) watch their favorites play in leagues and tournaments all around the world, from the GSL in Korea to Dreamhack in Sweden. Recently, there have been leagues springing up in America due to the rising popularity of the game, which now include the player-founded NASL (North American Star League) and IGN's new league.

Many gamers have profited via this rising community, with commentators who cast matches between pros or strategize about the game gathering hundreds of thousands of YouTube subscribers. The pros themselves earn a living by playing in tournaments, giving lessons or sometimes, streaming their play live on the internet, earning significant money through video ads.

That's how I was introduced to Destiny, aka Steven Bonnell II, who is perhaps the biggest force in Starcraft streaming to date. He's an incredibly talented player, and though not yet one of the top in the world, his creative play style, personality and sense of humor have attracted a huge following of thousands to his stream, which he runs for several hours a day.

He's one of the most prominent success stories in the burgeoning eSport of Starcraft 2, and not only makes a living by playing, but owns a house and supports a child on a gamer's salary as well.

I wanted to ask him about life is a professional Starcraft player and the future of eSports, and he was good enough to agree to a chat. Our conversation begins below:

Forbes: Starcraft is probably the biggest force in eSports right now, but at least in the US it doesn't have quite the same recognizability or reach yet as franchises like World of Warcraft or Call of Duty. How would you explain Starcraft to someone who hasn't played it before?

Destiny: Starcraft resembles a few different sports in a lot of different ways. You employ strategy designed to circumvent whatever action your opponent is doing, as he constantly tries to do the same to you. such as chess. There's a lot of "keyboard athletics" that go on as well, requiring you to very quickly and accurately move and point your mouse while controlling your keyboard to select things on the screen and coordinate them to perform the actions you want, similar to how you would throw a football or shoot a basketball.